Timed feeder



Feb. 9 1926. v

L. E. LA BOMBARD ET AL TIMED FEEDER Fil ed June24. 1922 2 Sheets-Shee't1 A 7' TJAWEY.

Feb. 9,1926. 1,572,439

L. E. LA BOMBARD ET AL wimp 1321112511 Filed June 24. 1922 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Feb. 9, 1926.

*gffU NITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

fnon a. LA BOMBARD AND MELVIN'H. SIDEBOTHAM, OF CHELSEA, MASSACHUSETTS,

ASSIGNORS To SPECIALTY UTOMATIC MACHINE COMPANY, or CHELSEA, MASSA-OHUSETTS, A CORPORATION or MASSACHUSETTS.

TIMED Application filed June 24, 1922. Serial No. 570,697.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we,LnoN E. L Bowman!) and MnLviN H. SinnnoTHAM,citizens of the l nited States, and residents of Chelsea, in

@ the'countv of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts. have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Timed Feeders, of which thefollowing. is a specification.

This invention relates to mechanism for 0 -'.letaching blanks or sheetsfrom the bottom ofa pile, and advancing .them singly toward othermechanism for further treatment. such mechanisms being known as bottomfeeders, and the invention has particular reference to mechanism, fordetaching and advancing the blanksin spaced relationship. Devices ormecl'ianisms .of this type are commonly known as timed feeders becausethey are usually employed for feeding the blanks to secondary mechanismwhich operates on predetermined longitudinal portions or areas of theblanks and which, therefore, renders it necessary that each blank shallreach said secondary or treating mechanism at a certain time in theoperation thereof.

Feeders which successively push blanks from the bottom of a pile have atendency to start more than one blank forward. To overcome this tendencyis one of the objects of our-invention. In attaining this object weprovide for slightly lifting the pile of blanks while the bottom blankis being pushed forward to be engaged by" forwarding mechanism, therebyeffecting the primary result of elim nating or re ucing friction betweenthe under surface of the bottom "blank and whatever stationary supportsare employed for the pile, and the secondary result of reducingliability of a second blank starting, with the bottom blank, into thethroat or passageway through which the blanks must pass singly from thehopper.

Another object of the present invention is -to provide a-bottom feedercapable of succ'essively operating on blankswhichare not ofuniformthickness, or'which have something else attached thereto such asthe'tape 'handles attache-dto the blanks for making ice-cream pails.-

Another object is to provide-improved throat mechanism for alternatelyopening and closing the passageway for the blanks leaving the feeder.

With the above and otherobjects in view,

the invention consists in the construction and combination of partssubstantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

Of the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view of one ofour'improved feeders in one of its embodiments.

Figure 2 represents a longitudinal section of the same.

Figure 3 is a detail plan view of one of the lfiting and feeding diskswith an adjustable peripheral mounting or hump.

- Figure 4 is a view similar to a portion of Figure 2 but showing a.modified and some-- times preferred form of the front rotary member atthe exit throat.

While the feeder herein described and claimed is capable of use inconnection with various kinds or types of machines for treating theblank fed, such as the making of envelopes or the printing of sheets, ithas been designed especially for use in connection with machines formaking egg boxes .suchas illustrated in our application Serial No.442,868, filed Feb. 5. 1921.

Inthe drawings, portions of the frame are indicated at. 12, the sideportions being connected by a slotted cross bar 13 and one or more tierods. Mounted on a rod 14 and adjustable longitudinally thereof are twobrackets 15 each having an upright wall plate 16 secured thereto.

Extending along and secured to the lower edge of each wall plate is abar 17 the other ends of the two bars being supported by a fixed crossbar 14:" (Fig. 2). Theupper surfaces of the bars '17 provide ledges forthe marginal portions of the lower blank of a pile. One blank isindicated by dotted lines in Figure 1.

having strips 19 extending parallel 'with the bars 17 and level withthe-ledge surfaces thereof.

For the reasons explained hereinafter we prefer, for some purposes, thatthe ledges 17 and floor strips 19 shall not be mooth i but shall besuper-frictional. They may have rubber surfaces or may be roughened inany suitable, manner as indicated Figure 1.

Either rubber or roughening provides extra or super-frictionalresistancetoany move- I i i ment of blanks resting thereon.

\Vhen the blanks to be fed have-- irreguldr edges so that the sideplates 16 can not be 're- 'lied upon to hold the pile properly, weembottom blanks to successively pass them.

Adjustablysecured to the shaft 29 are the of the pile of blanks in thehopper.

Mounted in bearings on the frame are three .shafts 24, 29, which aredriven continuously and synchronously by power and through gearing notneiessary to .illustrate. Secured to the shaft 24 is a rotary memberwhich may be awheel 25. as in Figures 1 and 2 ora segment. 25 as inFigure 4; Said rotary member has a friction peripheral surface orsurfaces: such as rubberplugs 26.

A roll 27 carried by shaft 28 is driven at the same peripheral speed(but in opposite directions) as that of the wheel 25 or segnlent '25" toensure the advance of the blank fed under the gate strip presentlydescribed.

hubs 30. offltwodisks' 31 *Each disk has a portion off its periphery"raised. 1 In other wordseacli-f dis is cam shaped,.1ts higher ortionwhat is hereinafter rerred to asahumpi; Preferably but not necessarilyit'icomprisestwo plate members 33. go

.(F-ig.-.3)"tineQ-of which is securedkin fixed [position onthe,periphery. of the disk and asa recessto receive atongue portion of I theother member which is slotted and has a .5 1 set screw 32 Ijfpassin'gthrough it into the as disk.

' By'loosenifig the set screw 32, shifting the longitudinal position ofthe member 33 which has -the" tongue portion, and thentigliteningjsaidscrew, the effective length of the hump'j may beflvariedwhen conditions hereinafter "explained require it. Figures 2 and 4 do.not=allustrate this feature because 'we do not limit'ourselves tomachines which .include it.';-

Snrrounding and tightly fittingeach disk 31 1is' a bandc34 of. rubber orother suitable 'mate lfialeto'fi'ictidnally en'ga e-the lower or;

bottom blank ofa. pile in te hopper and- W under the car of the gatestrip. A second Secured to the shaft 355is the hub -36 of a .efiectedgewise movement of said blank.

third glisk 37 l iav ing a peripheral-- liump plate or support 39anda-surrounding fric-v all three: are practically alike in structure.

The lower ends of the 1 As best illustrated by Figure 2 the three camshaped disks with their higher portions forming humps are of such sizeand are so mounted and driven that, when revolving in the direction ofthe arrows, only those portions of the friction bands which extendoverthe humps will touch the bottom blank of a piles This is because thenormal sup-- port for the pile comprises'the ledges 17 and (when used)the strips 19 which are at a height above the axes of the shafts 29, 35,

less than the radius which includes the humps and greaterthanthc radiusnot ineluding the'humps. ,In other words, the pile is alternately liftedand lowered relatively to the normal support for the pile and the bottomblank is urged forward during such lifting by the portions of the fricdescribe.

A vertical bar 41 having slots 42 through which screws 43 pass into thecross bar 13 constitutes an abutment for the front edges adjusted toprovide a wider or narrower passageway'according :to the thickness ofthe blanks or sheets to be fed. I

Mounted to slide in a suitable vertical guideway of the bar 41 is a gatestrip 44 the lower end of which, when said strip is not lifted, extendsbelow the tip of the bar 41 to obstruct the passage of a blank. Sccuredto and rising from a lateral ear of the gate strip 44 is a pin 45 guidedin a lug or block 46 carried by the bar 41. A spring 47 coiled aroundthe pin 45 and confined be tween the lug 46 and the ear of the gatestrip acts lightly to'tend to hold the gate strip in its lower, closing,position. Said gate. strip is lifted intermittently to open thepassageway for a blank, by an arm 48 of a rock shaft 49, said arm 48.extending to hold the arm 50 in contact with the cam.

The spring 53.is of sufficient strength to overcome the resistance ofthe spring 47 and Its that the bottom blank is free effect any feeding,said efi'ect lifting of the gate strip when the end of arm 50 isbearingon the low portion of the disk 51. When the cam lifts the outerend of arm 50. the arm 48 is lowered and the spring--17 slides the gatestrip 4a down.

In operation, assuming that the lateral positions of the strips 20. havebeen' adjusted to suit the shape and size of the blanks to be fed, andthat the disks 31, 37, have been laterally and rotatively adjusted ontheir shafts to cause their friction humps to properly engage the bottomblank of a pile, the timing of the relative operation of the parts issuch that just asthe gate strip 44 rises the friction humps begin toact, lifting the pile so from the extra or-super-frictional retardingeffect of the normal supports 17, 19. As the humps move forward theystart the bottom blank through the gate or passageway and saidblank isgrasped and aided in its forward movement by the coaetion of the drivenroll 27 with the wheel 25 or segment The lengths of the bumps isconsiderably less than that of the blanks so that when the disk 37 andits hump 40 ha; rotated far enough to cease to act on the bottom blankor, in other words, when the rear edge of the bottom blank has passedbeyond the point where the said hump it) acts upon it, the weight of thepile causes the rear portion of the next blank to settle down on thenormal support 17, 19, the super-frictional engagement of which preventsa second blank from being dragged along by the one which is passing outunder the gate strip. As soon as the rear edge of the moving blankpasses beyond the point where the humps of the disks 31 act upon it, allfeed ing tende cy ceases until the humps again reach about thepositionsshown in Figure 2.

The described adjustment of the humps as to length (Fig. 3) when thestructure therefor is employed is to provide for prop erly acting onblanks of different length.

Since only portions of the friction bands 34, 40, are at suflicientdistance from the axes of rotation of the portions constitute a frictionfeeder to act on successive lower blanks of a pile in the hopper. Therotation of the disks carrying these friction humps causes theiroperative height to be intermittently varied relatively to the height ofthe normal super-frictional support 17, 19; thereby reducing oreliminating retarding friction during feeding periods,

An important function of this structure is. that it reduces liabilityofthe second blank the one next above the bottoin blank) being forced intothe outlet below the gate strip t by the friction of the bottom onewhich is being fed out. fact that 'thehumps are adjustable in lengthwall plates 16 and guide extend back over shafts 30, 36, to.

This is due to the to meet requirements. In Figure 2 the front and rearhumps are indicated as of substantially the same length, but it will bereadily understood that the humps 33 of the front shaft 29 maybeincreased in length and the hump 39 of. the rear shaft 35 may beshortened either by shifting lengthwise the member having the tongue(Fig. 3) or by entirely removing that member. Then when the blanks beingall of the humps, the rear edge of the bottom blank will pass forwardbeyond the rear hump 39 and result in permitting the rear portion of thenext or second blank to be pressed down, by the weight of the pile aboveit, onto the super-frictional surface of the normal support 17, 19,whereby said second blank will be held back while the forward humps 33are still exerting a feeding action on the bottom blank. This enablesthe maximum feeding action to be exerted on the lower blank and themaximum retarding action to be effected on the second blank, such actioncontinuing successively on the blanks as each'bottom one is entirely fedout.

The cam 51 is so formed and timed as to its operation that the gatestrip 4*]: is free to des end before the rear edge of the fed blank1:-a;se..;.out. In other words, the lower end of the gate strip bears onthesurface of the rear portion of the outgoing blank and as foon as therear edge passes out, the gate strip drops and does not rise until justas the humps begin to act on the next bettoul blank. ltv this mechanismwe ens'zre al's .liitc uniform ty of the spacing between succesdvely fedblanks to enable each blank to reach position for treatment such asfolding or printing without having another blank so close to it as tointerfere with said treatment. .For these reasons'the mechanism isespecially adapted for use in connection with machines whichtt'reat theblanks while briefly held in arrested positions, such as explained inour application hereii'ibefore referred to.

It is to be understood that Figure 3 illustrates a structure ofadjustable hump plates suitab'e for all three of the disks 31, 37,altlaiugh Fig-tires 1, 9 and 4 do not illustrate the humps asadjustable. ing eir h by means of two members, we-may provide singlesegmental plates of different. lengths and substitute or interchangesizes to Fllli' the. blanks to be fed.

lVhen the blanks to be operated upon are plain flat ones, withoutattachments, a feed wheel having a complete circular periphery such asshown at in Figure 2 is usually pro feral le. 'ith such a wheel howeverdifs ficulti is experienced if the blanks have attachments- (such. asthe tape handles of ice cream pail blanks) or if'the blanks have (tireto partial preliminary folding or fed are of such length as to Insteadof form otherwise) doubled or extra-thick portions. Such tape orextra-thick portions are liable to catch uponthe gate strip or chokethe/ outlet throat. lVe have discovered that by cutting away a part orparts of the wheel under the gate strip, so as to provide a recess'capable of receiving such tape or extra thick portions, blanks of thekind referred to can be accurately fed. In such case the blanks arestacked in the hopper with singlethick edge portions against theabutment member 41, the tapes or extra-thick portions being at" therear. Then, by the time each blank has passed far enouglr to be underthe control of the usual forwarding mechanism of the machine to whichthe blanks are supplied by this feeder, its tape or extra thickness willbe accommodated in the cutaway or recessed portion of the wheel so asnot to catch. In Figure 4 we have illus-' trated such a wheel as cutawayto .such an extent as to leave practically a segment 25*. Obviouslyhowever the cutting away need not be so extensive. .In effect the.member 25*- is a wheel with a Very extensive recess. Y

As hereinbefore stated, feeders ,which successively push blanks from thebottom of a pile have a.tendency to start more than one blank forward.If two or more bla ks so start, their front edges become wedged edge ofthe lower blank.

under the restricting abutment such as that illustrated at 41. To aid inovercoming this tendency we provide means for slightly withdrawing thepileof blanks, or causing said pile to retreat, just as or immediatelyafter the bottom blank is advanced. It is particularly desirable to dothis when the blanks have tape or other attachments or have extra-thickportions as hereinbefore described and when for this reason the feedwheel under the abutment is cut away .or recessed. To illustrate this,assume that the se mental member 25 (Fig. 4) moved ar enough in thedirection of the arrow to no longer all'ord any support r the frontUnless the blanks are very stiff, the front edges of two or more wouldbe liable to drop down so that as said 1 member moves up toward theposition shown in-Figure 4 said edges would. become, wedged under theabutment 41.. Toeifect; the .retreat or slightdrawing back of the pileat 'the proper times, we provide the following mechanism :The rod 14 issupportedby arms 55.

rock shaft 54, the latter having anoth fr arm 56 actnated by a cam 57 onthe shaft-.35, The result of this structure is that as soon as thebottom blank is advanced far enough to expose any portionofthe-undersurface at the rear of the next blank, the friction supports17, 19, act on that exposed portion to draw it back. By the employmentof the side aiding devices for the blanks of a pile to hold them squaredup, preventing any from becoming askew. v By the term blanks used hereinwe do not mcanflto limit ourselves to any particularshape or kind ofmaterial. The term is intended to apply as well to sheets of any kind tobe fed to box-making machines, printing presses, or other machines whichtreat or operate upon them.

Having now described our invention, we claim:

1. A blank-feeding mechanism including a normal support fora pile ofblanks, said support being surfaced to 'fric tionally retard blanks, afriction feeder to act on successive lower blanks of the pile, andmeans.

surface, a friction feeder to act on successive lower blanks of thepile, and means for intermittently varying the relative height of saidnormal support and friction feeder to reduce the retarding effect of thenormal support when the feeder acts on each lower blank.

3. .A blank-feeding mechanism including a normal support having an extrafrictional surface for a pile of blanks, and a friction feeder. to acton successive lower blanks of the pile, said feeder including forwardand rear intermittently operating members timed to cause the rear memberto cease opcrating and permit the rear portion of the second blank ofthe pile to engage said extra frictional surface while the forward,

member continues to feed the bottom blank.

' 4. A. blank-feeding mechanism including a normal support having anextra frictional surface for a pile of blanks, and forward and rearrotarymembers having raised frictionfeeding surfaces timed in operationto cause the rear member to cease feeding and permit the rear portion ofthe second blank to feed the bottom blank.

5. A blank-feeding mechanism including a normal support having an extrafrictional surface for a pile of blanks, africtiqn feeder to act onsuccessive lower blanks ofthe pile,

means for intermittently varying the rela-' tive height of said normalsupport and friction feeder to reduce the retarding effect of the normalsupport when the feeder acts on each 'i-llower' blank,

6. .A blank-feeding mechanism including and an intermittently lose'dfandopened gateway forthe passage of the --lower blanks.

.strips 20 we-pr'ovide" adjustable" registering of the pile to engagesaid extra frictional surface .while the forward member continues anormal support having a super-frictional surface for a ile of blanks,and a friction feeder intermittently movable toward and i from the lowerblank of the ile.

7. A blank-feeding mechanism including a normal support having asuper-frictional surface for a pile of blanks, a friction feederintermittently movable toward and from feeder in timed relationship.

' v the lower blank of the pile, a gate-controlled passageway forsuccessive lower blanks, and means for operating the gate and friction8. In mechanism of the character described, a hopper for a pile ofblanks, and means for simultaneously lifting and feeding out the lowerblank of the pile, said means comprising a plurality of rotary diskshavin friction humpswhichare adjustable in ength.-

9. A blank-feeding mechanism comprising a hopper for a pile of blanks,means for or space to receive and permit the free pas sage of anattachment to. a blank or an ex-' feeding blanks successively from thepile,

andjmeans forming an outlet passage-way for a singleblank at a time,said passageway formin means comprisin a recessed rotary mem er and agate strip cooperating therewith.

10. A blank-feeding mechanism comprising side guides for a pileofblanks, a. friction feeder to act on successivcilow'er blanks of thepile, a rotary memhe overwhich each of said lower blanks passes, andafgate member cooperating with saidrotary member in forming an outletfor said passing blank,-said rotary member having a recess 4 tra thickportion thereof.

11. In a blank-feeding mechanism having a hopperfor apile of blanks andmeans for feeding blanks successively from the bottom of the pile, apairfof laterally adjustable vertical blanks, t e lower ends of saidguide strips being spaced above the bottom of the hop- 1 on singleblanks of the 'de strips for'side edges of the per to permit laterallyprojecting edge portions of the blanks to pass under the stri s,

for a single blank at a time from the bottom of the pile, and aplurality of rotary friction feeders below said support and located atdifferent distances from said outlet, each of said rotary feeders havinga cam-shaped peripher the higher portion of which is adjustab e inlength, whereby movement of the lower blank through said outlet may becontinued by the action of a feeder near the outlet after a portion ofthe next or second blank restsnpon said stationary frictional up ort.

14. A b ank-feeding mechanism including a normal "su port for a pile of,blanks, a friction fee er to act on successive single blanks of thepile, said feeder being constructed and arranged to shift. from a planebelow'the normal support to a plane above it, andmeans forintermittentlyretracting the saldsupport.

15. A blank-feeding-mechanism including a normal support for a pile ofblanks, a mtary recessed member for acting successively ber cooperatingwith sa1d rota ry member in forming an outlet for the blanks, and meansfor intermittently retracting said support, v.

In testimony whereof'we have aflixed our signatures.

' LEON E.

Lvm; H. SIDEBOTHAM.

ile, a gate mem-

